Sunday, October 14, 2012

Writing About Truth…and Other Lies

So,
what is it to write about truth?

Many
of you are familiar with the term “write what you know”. I wrote an article on
Scribophile about this topic. In it I shared
some excellent advice from Literary Agent Rachelle Gardner: “Write what you know means write with authenticity
about thoughts, feelings, experiences of life. Be honest. Write from a deep
place. Don't write from the surface. Whether you're writing about parenthood or
cancer or anything else... be real. Don't reflect what you know from other people or
the media... write what you know
from your own inner life.” The advice write what you
know isn’t about literal truths; it’s about what you know inside. And as SF
author Marg Gilks says, “You know more than you think.”

So,
what is it to write about the truth?

vote yes to Proposition 37

Here’s
a bit of truth from New York Times reporter Stephanie Strom in an article on
September 19th, 2012, entitled Uneasy
Allies in the Grocery Aisle: “Giant bioengineering companies like Monsanto
and DuPont are spending millions of dollars to fight a California ballot
initiative aimed at requiring the labeling of genetically modified foods. That
surprises no one, least of all the proponents of the law, which if approved by
voters would become the first of its kind in the nation.”

Let’s
dig a bit deeper into this truth: “companies behind some of the biggest organic
brands in the country—Kashi, Cascadian Farm, Horizon Organic—also have joined
the anti-labeling effort, adding millions of dollars to defeat the initiative,
known as Proposition 37.”

Strom
reveals even deeper truths when she discloses that these well-known “organic”
companies are owned by larger conglomerates like Kellogg, General Mills, Dean
Foods, Smucker’s and Coca-Cola. Other food companies who have thrown in funds
to help defeat the bill for transparency include PepsiCo., Neslé, and ConAgra Foods.

Strom
reports that those who support the bill to label GMO products include Whole
Foods, Nature’s Path (a Canadian company) Organic Valley, Cliff Bar and Amy’s
Kitchen.

Whenever
an issue of importance arises, the truth reveals itself. And sometimes in the
oddest way. It often slides in through a back door in nuance, motion, color. I’m
not just talking about factual truth; I’m talking about resonating hair-standing gut-grabbing truth. The kind of truth that
resonates through you in a scintillating frisson that sparks of thrilling
unfamiliar yet calms you with the warmth of home. The kind of truth that stops
you mid-stride, like someone shouting your name. Subversive truth. The kind of
truth that vibrates deep inside and radiates out in a warm flood of epiphany. The kind of truth that stirs your heart in a
relentless wave of flaming light.

At
first glance it’s rather obvious why those fighting the bill are against it:
they have something to lose in transparency. The question is, why do they think
that way? These giant biotech food companies are feeding the entire world,
after all, with revolutionary strains of super-plants. They are doing a great
good, surely. Could it simply be a concern that they may lose some customers
who do not wish to consume GE products but who are unwittingly doing so now?
That is being dishonestly self-serving as well as short-sighted (the European
Union has required biotech labeling since 1997—it’s just a matter of time).

Could
it be the recent bad publicity from findings of the long-term effects of GMO
products and Roundup on test animals? (See the incendiary paper by French and
Italian scientists in Food Chem. Toxicol.,
referenced below). Despite the barrage
of bad press (wonder who’s behind most of that?), the paper’s results cannot be
refuted entirely or ignored (if only from the basis of scientific inquiry and
professional due diligence to do with Type II Error).

Or is
it more insidious?

There
is something far more insidious than a lie; that is to dissemble with a half-lie—or
half-truth—a truth that veils a festering lie beneath its candy-coated mantle
of equivocation. A “truth” so delicious that we want to believe it, even when
we see the lie lurking beneath. Little lies always hide bigger lies.

For
more than a decade, consumers in North America have purchased cereals, snack
foods, and salad dressings, among other products, blithely unaware that these
products contained ingredients from plants whose DNA was manipulated in a
laboratory.

Here’s
my witnessed truth: The aggressive multi-million dollar campaign waged by
multi-national corporations against transparency in food labeling in the USA is
the culmination of self-serving protectionism in a most heinous way. Their
decade-long silence and current reluctance to label their products (and all
this before the Seralini et al. study) points to a far greater lie.

Since
the long-term toxicity study by Seralini et
al. was released in Food &
Chemical Toxicology last week, a massive campaign to discredit the study
has been waged on the Internet. This despite the soundness of the 2-year study,
its glaringly obvious results (e.g. test animals died 2-3 times more quickly
than controls among many other findings) and the fact that it sets precedent by
being the longest and most detailed study ever conducted on a herbicide and a
GMO to date; all previous studies by Monsanto labs and others were only 90-day
trials.

So,
what is it to write about the truth?

I’ve
been a practicing scientist for over twenty years. I did research and wrote
papers that were published in scientific peer-reviewed journals. I diligently used
the scientific method, hypothesis-testing, objective observation and
appropriate statistics to my work. I also write articles for magazines, blogs and
places like this site. I write short stories and novels. I write how-to books
and guidebooks. And I write letters. Lots of letters. In all this, I have made
a point to do my research. I try always to go to the source and verify my
information through cross-checking, and various other quality assurance
procedures I learned over the years to best represent and communicate the
truth.

For
instance, in writing this article, I perused many articles that presented both
sides of the several issues I covered, including the source paper by Seralini
et al.

Science
is the rationale tool for the pursuit of the truth. This is why scientists are
burdened to proceed under an objective protocol in their premise presentation,
experimental design, methodology and interpretation and conclusions drawn.
Because the introduction of error and bias is possible in each of these steps,
researchers with integrity ensure through design and quality assurance protocol
that these errors and biases are minimized. This includes the use of contols,
sufficient sample size and statistical power, blind or even double-blind
experiments and more. Experiments are reported with sufficient transparency to
be replicated (an icon of good science). Once they are reported in a paper,
results transform from science into politics.

Science
and its close cousin “pseudo-science” are the weapons waged in this issue of
GMO food labeling. But science is just a soldier. Who are the politicians
behind the soldiers of science and what are their motives? That is where the
truth lies.

In the
end, I have found that listening to the conviction of my heart, to my inner
“soul wisdom”, best serves the truth. Then again I prefer the resonating hair-standing gut-grabbing truth.

You may be interested in a previous article I wrote here back in 2007 about the potential ecological dangers posed by GE practices, the wisdom of labelling GE products and Nature's alternatives to GE. Here is an excerpt:

While developers of genetically engineered foods (GEF) strive to produce hardier and higher-yielding plants, ecologists throughout the world eye transgenics skeptically. They fear that these genetically altered plants, may escape into the wild and displace native plants with unforeseen and potentially devastating results. Dr. Wes Jackson, director of the Land Institute in Kansas, a non-profit research facility devoted to alternative agricultural practices, warns that, if misused, biotechnology may lead to the human-induced degradation of the genomes of plant species. “What is being more or less ignored” in the rush to biotechnology, he said in an interview with the Chronicle of Higher Education, “is that some of the same principles and processes that govern an ecosystem, like a forest or a prairie, also operate with genomes. The genome is a miniature ecosystem.”1 Thinking along the same lines, Jane Rissler of the Union of Concerned Scientists of America suggested that transgenic science practices may release a seemingly harmless gene into our food supply with life-threatening consequences.Growing knowledge of potential risks to ecosystem and human health is prompting many to insist that GEFs be identified and segregated so that consumers can make a choice for or against them. Which brings us to the obvious question: what alternative to the use of GEFs will we find to feed our ever-growing populations? Rissler advocates an alternative vision for agriculture, one based on nature’s own balance, which she calls “sustainable agriculture” or biomimicry.

Nina Munteanu is an
ecologist and internationally published author of novels, short stories and
essays. She coaches writers and teaches writing at George Brown College and the
University of Toronto. For more about Nina’s coaching & workshops visit www.ninamunteanu.me. Visit www.ninamunteanu.ca for more about her writing.

2 comments:

Dear Nina,Thank you for raising the issue about truth. Far from it, as we know the truth can be stretch and distorted from the reality. Large companies like Monsanto have their interests in self and complete greed. They paint themselves one way while revealing another. This springs to mind the two-faced clown that changed it's political appearance to suit the need which ever way the wind blows. I thank you for advocating on behalf of all Canadians, the environment in quest for bringing back high standards, integrity and honor as it should be. I look forward to following up with you in your next post.

Thanks, Diva Cat, for your support and thoughts. Here are two more posts that should interest you on GMOs... Both about Canadian hero, Rachel Parent, 14 year old who has taken on the bully by the horns... We need more like her...

About Nina

I'm The Alien Next Door. I'm an ecologist and a published author of several novels, articles and reviews. I teach writing at George Brown College and UofT. I also coach writers. For more on writing (articles and advice) and more information about my coaching, visit me at Nina Munteanu Writing Coach. Visit Nina Munteanu Writer for more about my own writing. My new site The Meaning of Water is devoted to our precious water and brings my interest as an ecologist and limnologist to help understand the meaning and importance of this precious and mysterious element. Inside, you'll find articles that explore what water is and its meaning to this planet and to us as a species and life form.